


According to Plan

by tealady19



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Established Relationship, M/M, Post-Canon, mishaps with a happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-14 03:29:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29785800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tealady19/pseuds/tealady19
Summary: It’s Shiro’s birthday, they’ve got the next two days off, Keith is in his arms, what could go wrong?As it turns out, everything.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 52





	According to Plan

**Author's Note:**

> A little belated birthday adventure for Shiro! As I was trying to finish this up yesterday, did everything also go wrong for me? Absolutely! But it all worked out in the end, haha.
> 
> Only a quick edit this time, I apologise for any glaring errors!

Shiro wakes up the same way he does every morning, nose buried in soft black hair and half-covered in another sweaty body. It makes him smile into the crown of Keith’s head and he spends some time just listening to his soft purring snores.

He’s so sweet like this, soft and relaxed in Shiro’s arms. He’s also putting out an incredible amount of heat, but Shiro can’t find fault in it. It’s part of what makes him Keith, after all.

The love of his life must also sense Shiro is awake because he shifts on top of him, trying to find a more comfortable position. Shiro’s chest jumps when Keith rubs his face into it, one hand squeezing appreciatively as he starts to wake as well. It makes Shiro laugh, the movement jostling Keith into awareness.

Keith smiles up at him, eyes still half-lidded and sleepy. “Shiro,” he whispers, voice low and gravelly. “Happy bi-”

He cuts himself off as he tenses, eyes going wide before he pushes himself off to sit up in bed. “Shiro?!”

Shiro blinks. “Good morning?”

“What time is it?!”

“Um,” Shiro says, having not yet looked at the clock. He isn’t worried about the time. “It’s morning?”

Keith moans, covering his face with his hands. “I was gonna make you breakfast in bed!”

That’s very sweet, but Shiro is much happier waking up with Keith in his arms than he would be to a cold bed. Keith just groans when he tries to tell him this.

“It’s your birthday, Shiro, it needs to be special,” he says, pouting. Shiro knows better than to tell him he’s doing it - he might stop, and it’s cute.

“You’re plenty special,” he says instead, leaning forward to kiss Keith’s nose. It scrunches up. _Cute._

Shiro’s stomach growls in the next moment and he pulls back sheepishly. “Guess I am hungry after all,” he says with a laugh. “Want to make breakfast together?”

***

Surprise breakfast may have failed, but it seems like Keith has more ideas up his sleeve. Shiro is just happy to spend the day with him, but Keith seems determined to make today _special._ Like Shiro could ever think each day with Keith isn’t special already.

Shiro goes to the fridge for bread and jam while Keith turns the kettle on and tries not to look too disappointed. Making breakfast together is even better than breakfast in bed, in Shiro’s opinion. With the kettle starting to boil, Keith takes the bread from Shiro and slides a few slices into the toaster.

“What were you going to make?” Shiro asks as he pulls out the apricot jam. “We can still make it now, if you want.”

“Poached eggs on toast,” Keith sighs. “I’ve been practicing with Hunk.”

Shiro’s eyebrows shoot up. “Wow, baby! That sounds great.”

“It was supposed to be a surprise.”

“Well, consider me surprised,” Shiro bumps Keith with his hip and manages to get a little smile out of him. “If you still want to make it, I’ll be very surprised at the table too.”

“Shiro!”

Shiro gets the eggs out of the fridge and sets them on the counter. “An apricot toast and a poached egg toast, please.”

Keith can’t help but laugh at his cheeky smile.

Shiro sits patiently at the table with his first course of apricot jam on toast, watching Keith poach the eggs to perfection. His tongue sticks out the corner of his mouth as he cracks the egg shells and he holds his breath as he carefully lifts the cooked egg out of the water. Shiro is much happier to see the look of concentration on his face than to wake up with breakfast already made and missing the creation of it.

Of course, the egg tastes as good as he knew it would. Shiro devours his as Keith watches, pleased.

Once they’re both finished, the dishes are dropped in the sink for later. Keith tugs him into clothes, mumbling something about making their appointment, and then pulls him straight out the door.

Shiro laughs as Keith closes his hand around his wrist, a grin back on his face.

“Okay,” he says, “Breakfast didn’t go as planned, but I triple checked this reservation. We’re out of here for the rest of the day!”

Shiro feels his own smile start to grow as they enter the turbolift and Keith orders them to the hangar deck. Atlas has a few fast flyers he and Keith have taken out for joyrides before. A little different from hoverbikes but more maneuverable than shuttles, the flyers are one of their favourite pastimes. They’re also notoriously difficult to pin down, being so popular.

Shiro can’t wait.

He slides his wrist out of Keith’s grip, tangling their fingers together instead as they beam at each other. Keith is always on the same page, a morning of flying around the star system and neighbouring planetoids without anyone to interrupt them is exactly what Shiro wants to do for his birthday.

Unfortunately, they’re less than fifteen feet out of the lift when someone calls his name.

“Captain!”

He feels Keith stiffen next to him, but Shiro turns to see one of his bridge crew jogging up to them. Keith’s hand tightens in his.

“Sorry, sir, I know it’s your day off, but I just need your signature on this real quick,” they hold a datapad out to him with an apologetic smile. “I can’t put the request through without it.”

Shiro sighs but turns towards them. “Make it quick,” he says, taking the pad. Keith crosses his arms behind him and Shiro has to smile as he feels the glare he’s sending in the crew member’s direction. It’s a little funny. Shiro hands the datapad back and the officer books it with a quick salute.

“They shouldn’t be bothering you on your birthday,” Keith grumbles as he takes Shiro’s arm again. “Or on any of your days off.”

“No,” Shiro agrees. “But you know I like keeping my birth date private, so they couldn’t have known that. And one signature won’t hurt.”

“One signature is setting a precedent. You deserve your time off.”

Shiro bumps his shoulder affectionately. “Thanks, sweetheart. I know, it is, but it’ll be the only one today, promise. This ship can take care of itself for one day.”

Not less than six other people stop them on the five minute walk to the hangar doors.

The first gets one of Keith’s _I told you so_ looks, the second a raised eyebrow, the third and subsequent officers receive deeper levels of glaring. By the time they’re actually entering the hangar, Shiro has a line up three deep and Keith stalks over to the hangar’s on duty chief to check them in for their flight.

Shiro is signing the last document when Keith’s voice catches his attention.

_“What do you mean there’s no request?!”_

“I’m sorry, sir,” the lieutenant at the flight desk tries to soothe. As Shiro walks up behind them she turns her screen so Keith can see. “I don’t have a booking for you at all today.”

Keith’s expression is half frustration, half upset, but Shiro sees the defeat in his shoulders as he scans through the bookings screen. He’s got his confirmation pulled up on his datapad but there’s nothing on the official log. There must have been an error.

“That’s okay,” Shiro says, resting a supportive hand on Keith’s back. “It’s fine, we can take out whatever is available.”

The lieutenant’s grimace tells him everything he needs to know.

“I’m sorry, sir,” she says again, looking even more apologetic. “All shuttles and flyers are booked out solid for the next three days. We don’t have anything available.”

Shiro looks over the list of bookings again. As captain, he could pull rank and kick someone else off of their flight, but all flyers have left for the day and the remaining shuttlecraft are booked for astronomical survey. Shiro doesn’t feel right about dismissing legitimate scientific research just to go joyriding, especially since the shuttles are so slow and he’s actually looking forward to reading these reports when they’re submitted.

Keith looks devastated, turning to Shiro with such a sad face he can’t help but lean down to press a kiss to his forehead. The lieutenant smiles, turning away.

“I’m sorry, Shiro,” he says, looking up at him. Shiro rubs his hand along his back.

“Keith, really, it’s okay. We’ll find something else to do.”

“You sure?” he asks as they turn away from the check-in desk.

“Promise.” Shiro slides his arm around Keith’s shoulders, tugging him in as they head back down the corridor towards the lift. “How about some sparring?”

Keith raises his eyebrows. “You want your ass handed to you for your birthday, old timer?”

The arm around his shoulders becomes a headlock in less than a second and Keith starts laughing.

“Hey! You punk, you definitely don’t have me beat yet!”

***

There seems to be a pattern to today, Shiro is realising as he sits on the couch of their quarters. He’s banished from the kitchen while Keith tries to make lunch, to make up for the missed breakfast surprise.

Shiro’s a little worried that the kitchen might end up on fire, with the mood that Keith’s in.

The gym had been a great idea until it wasn’t. Their usual, less commonly used space was booked for a training class who needed the privacy, so they were forced to head over to the busy main training deck. They got changed, loosened up, made it to the mats, and then the crowd began to gather.

They had barely managed two strikes when the whispering started, something that Shiro has to make an effort not to listen to and that he knew bothers Keith to no end. He understood, the Black Paladin and their Captain aren’t usually sparring in plain sight unless they’re offering a demonstration, but this time they just wanted to be left alone.

Keith had been getting more and more frustrated the longer it went on, but Shiro could tell Keith wouldn’t stop until Shiro did. Here was something Shiro wanted for his birthday and Keith was going to give it to him until he asked for something else, no matter how Keith felt about it.

Shiro called an end to the spar not ten minutes after they started. They weren’t there to be gawked at, or spread rumours. He doesn’t want to see Keith stress any more. Shiro thinks it was the right idea, but he can tell Keith is still upset.

A curse from the kitchen has him getting up from the couch to help, but he can smell the burning before he gets the few steps into the kitchen.

Keith is pulling the pan off the stove just as he gets through the doorway, but it’s clear that whatever he was trying to make was ruined. Shiro reaches over him to turn the stove off. Keith’s shoulders are strung tight as he hovers for a moment with the pan in hand, and then goes ahead to scrape it into the trash. He won’t turn around to look at Shiro.

“Hey,” Shiro says, trying to get his attention. It takes a moment, but Keith turns. His smile is wobbly.

“Sorry,” he says, still trying to hide how upset he is. “Um. Oops?”

“Keith.”

“Uh, I guess, um. We - well, this didn’t work out, s-so we can just - I guess we can -”

“Keith.”

“This isn’t really what you wanted for your birthday, I know. But, um, I think we can probably find something else in the kitchen to eat.” He laughs, but it sounds forced.

It breaks Shiro’s heart and he can see the tears gathering in his eyes. Keith tries to dash them away, always trying to put on this collected front. Shiro gathers him up into his arms, rocking them side to side in the middle of their kitchen.

“Sorry,” Keith whispers again, voice thick. “I can’t seem to get anything right today.”

“Hey,” he says into Keith’s hair. “Listen. The only thing I’ve ever wanted for my birthday is to spend it with you. I really don’t care what we do - we could lie on the couch and eat chips all day and it would be perfect because you’re there.”

Keith sniffs but he hears him laugh.

“And besides,” Shiro continues, stroking a hand up and down his back. “I get to remember this ridiculous day for years. Years, Keith! I’m still wrapping my head around the fact that forever with you is so much longer than I could have hoped. That I get to wake up in bed with you in thirty years and say, _remember that one birthday where nothing turned out as planned?_ That’s the gift you’re giving me.”

Keith’s arms tighten around his waist and Shiro smiles into his crown as Keith pushes his face harder against Shiro’s chest. He mumbles something that Shiro doesn't quite make out.

“What’s that, baby?”

Keith pulls away to prop his chin on Shiro’s chest and looks up at him.

“I said, I’m supposed to tell you sappy shit today.”

Shiro snorts. “Listen, Keith, it’s my birthday and I get to do what I want.”

He pouts up at Shiro mulishly but Shiro just takes the opportunity to kiss him. Loudly and with a lot of exaggeration.

He grins when he pulls back and sees Keith’s smile blooming for real.

“Okay, old timer,” he teases, expression clearing and finally perking up. “Let’s figure out what’s for lunch and then you tell me what you want to do today.”

Shiro has some ideas that involve getting back into their bed, but he’s hungry for actual food first.

“I can think of some things,” he says, sneaking a kiss onto the side of Keith’s neck. The shiver that follows has him grinning. “But food first, yeah.”

They pull apart to rifle through their kitchen, Shiro squatting in front of the fridge to dig through the drawers while Keith hangs back and opens some of the cupboards. In the bottom of the crisper drawer, Shiro spots a package of veggie dogs and lights up with excitement.

“We have _hot dogs,_ Keith!” He turns to where Keith is looking through the pantry. “Do you know when the last time was that I had a hot dog? I don’t even remember!”

Keith looks like he wants to laugh as he pulls his head out of the cupboard. “We don’t have any buns, though.”

Shiro waves him off. “Whatever, there's bread. Don’t tell me you’ve never wrapped a hot dog in a slice of bread before.”

Keith laughs as he reaches for the loaf. “What kid hasn’t? Okay, babe, you win. Grab the onions while you’re in there too?”

Shiro pulls out an onion along with their standard condiments and the veggie dogs. “You are the only person I know who likes raw onion on hot dogs.”

“Listen,” Keith says as he gets a new pan and starts up the stove again. “It’s good.”

“If you say so.”

“I do say so,” Keith snaps a pair of tongs at him as he lays the veggie dogs on the heating pan to cook. “I’m glad your birthday is finally working out.”

Shiro snags a bag of chips from the pantry, then pulls out a kitchen chair to sit on while they wait for lunch to cook. Keith makes the executive decision that Shiro’s thigh is a much better place to sit than another chair, which is exactly what Shiro was hoping. He passes off the chips for Keith to open and snakes his arms around his waist instead.

With hot dogs on the grill, chips in hand, and Keith in his lap, Shiro really couldn’t ask for a better birthday.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on twitter at [thimblee](http://twitter.com/thimblee)!


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